Paliometocho Levkosias
Paliometocho Levkosias is located about 19 kilometers west of the capital in the Nicosia district of Cyprus and it is situated about 80 kilometers from Limassol, 70 kilometers northwest of Larnaca and 130 kilometers southwest of Paphos.
On the west bank of the Serrahi river, Paliometocho Levkosias is built at an average altitude of about 230 meters, and its total area reaches about 36,000 acres, making it the second largest community in the whole of the island. After the exploitation of the water sources of the region, the cultivation of lemons, olives, barley, fodder plants, a few legumes and pears was developed. Apart from agriculture, the locals are also engaged in livestock farming.
From a geological point of view, Paliometocho Levkosias is of particular interest due to the formations of limestone sandstone, crustacea and sandy marlstone, conglomerates (sand and gravel of the Pleistocene period), as well as deposits from the formation of the Athalassa National Forest, while recently there were found alluvial deposits of the Holocene period.
Paliometocho Levkosias, benefiting from its small distance from the capital of the island of Cyprus, grew populous, and after the Turkish invasion of 1974 hosted a large number of Greek Cypriot refugees. At the end of the Ottoman domination and early British domination, some Turks settled in the settlement, but they moved to other areas in the early 20th century. The locals talk about the “curse of Archbishop Chrysanthos”, which expelled the last Turk from the village. Also, in the past, it is said that there were many locusts harming the crops, so the then Archbishop of Cyprus and the national martyr, Kyprianos, ordered the painting between the years 1820-1821 of many icons of Saint Tryphonas.
The very name of the settlement (from the composition of the words “palios (old)” and “metohi (dependency)“) seems to betray the history of the settlement. According to the local tradition, the settlement is said to have its name due to the fact that at first on the site that today stands the village, there was in the past one of the dependencies of the Monastery of Machairas. Historically, Paliometocho Levkosias already existed in medieval times, and during the Frankish era it was a private feudal estate and later became the property of the royal family, although it is believed to have been founded there because of the dependency, while its first inhabitants were probably workers from the monastery’s estates.
Today, in Paliometocho Levkosias, one can visit the restored church of Panagia Chrysogalaktousa, the modern temple of Panagia Odigitria, and Agios Georgios, a 20th century building, as well as take a walk around the village center, observing the restored traditional bricks houses and the community homes. In the wider area, there is also a small archaeological site of the prehistoric years, but it is not yet open to the public.
Paliometocho Levkosias borders with Mammari, while to the north is the neighboring Kokkinotrimithia community, in the southwest it borders with the village of Meniko, and to the southeast with the settlement Agioi Trimithias.